What Mark?
by lonely little liar
Summary: When Elizabella is faced with a difficult decision, she decides to risk her happiness to make her family content... but when this new life leads her elsewhere, will she be able to face with the decision she's made?
1. What Mark?

"Back up straight, Elizabella," an older woman piped as she jabbed her cane into an ebony haired girl's back that was clothed by a clean and perfectly straight, blue dress.

"But grandmother… her posture has nothing to do with her personality… shouldn't Beckett court her for her, not the way she stands?" another girl said, coming from the other room with a handful of hair pins to tie back her little sister's hair. She started stabbing them through her hair hurriedly after studying the clock. "And anyway, I don't think Beckett will like Elizabella as much as you think… they're just not very compatible people."

"Why do you say that!" The old woman gasped while straightening thirteen year old Elizabella's shoulders as she stood in front of a standing mirror with a pained expression in her eye.

Elizabella's sister chuckled a bit, then said, with a few pins held between her lips, "Elizabella was always the tomboy between the two of us… While I was off having tea parties she was eating bugs in the back yard." Elizabella giggled, rather proud of this accusation, but stopped when her grandmother gave her a stern glare. "She's not the type to marry a military man… and besides," Her sister stabbed another pin into Elizabella's head, "as I said before, Beckett probably won't even have her… we're putting too much hope into this one thing. I say, if we want money, we earn it respectfully. Not by selling Elizabella off to the first rich man we see… what if some other stranger comes along who's got more money than Beckett, eh? Elizabella's the prize of the family when it comes to looks… I mean, we can only marry her off to one man-"

"Doesn't anyone care about what I want?" Elizabella mumbled, looking down at the floor. "Isabella… all you talk of is how Beckett won't like me… but what if I don't like him!"

"Well then that's too bad, kiddo." Isabella said, finishing her sister's hair and putting a hand on her shoulder. "Now, get out there and knock 'em dead."

"Literally?" Elizabella asked sarcastically as she pulled a shawl over her blue dress and trudged out the door. Isabella laughed and waved as their grandmother shouted out the door for Lizzie to keep her back erect. Once she'd gotten down the street and away from her lunatic family, she slumped over and started pulling her hair down.

"Good evening, Elizabella," A male voice came from behind her. She rolled her eyes and turned to see Beckett staring at her with a broad grin plastered on his face.

"Hello," She retorted blandly.

"You look stunning," Beckett replied, not missing a beat. He offered his arm to her and she took it in disgust. "So what are we to do tonight? I was thinking perhaps going for a long stroll in the park. Then back to my home for some tea and cake."

"Fine," Elizabella said, still as unenthused about the plan as before. Beckett led her through their date doing all the talking and very little listening.

When there was finally a small gap of silence Elizabella took the opportunity to say, "My feet are aching." In reality she was saying "I'd like to go home now…"

But Beckett didn't look into the meaning of the sentence at all and replied only with, "I'm dreadfully sorry, dear." And they continued walking.

By the time their date was over, Elizabella was as tired as could be and retired to her room, listening to Beckett and her Grandmother talking on the floor below her.

"I'm so very glad Elizabella behaved herself tonight," She could hear her grandmother say through the thick, wooden floor and the ceiling.

"Oh, yes, she was a delight. A very intent listener as well… If you'd be so kind as to allow me to wed your daughter-"

"Oh, she's my granddaughter. Her mother has long since passed."

"Ah, I see… she failed to mention it,"

_Perhaps because you never shut your trap long enough for me to get a word in edge wise. _Elizabella thought.

"I'll provide her with only the finest things… she'll be treated very kindly while she's in my care… I can assure you."

"What do we get out of it?" Elizabella heard Isabella say impatiently.

"Of course, I'll take care of my bride's family as well," Beckett replied quickly.

"Deal."

And that was that… Elizabella had just been sold to the highest bidder. They continued to talk about when the proposal would take place and about the wedding until Beckett bid the family adieu and ventured into the chilly spring night. Elizabella forced herself to sleep shortly after.

She woke up to the sounds of her sister calling for her to get out of bed and her grandmother rushing about, gathering items to dress her with. "Elizabella! This is the last time I will tell you! Get up!"

"Alright! Alright!" Her feet hit the hardwood and she walked into the washroom in her knickers.

"Get dressed now! We've not got time for this!"

"I am dressed!" Elizabella said, combing through her hair.

"Not hardly!" Her grandmother said. Before she knew it, Elizabella found herself sitting in a golden colored dress with long hair all tied back in a tidy bun. She was sitting in a carriage soon afterward; silently riding beside Beckett who had attempted to kiss her on the cheek many times.

"I am only thirteen years old… you're aware?"

"Ah, Yes, but a wonderfully mature thirteen year old woman, you are."

There was a long pause then Elizabella said, rather snobbishly, "You're twenty five."

"You'll warm up to the idea, Elizabella… I just know it."

"I don't think so." There was another gap of awkward silence.

"Ah, Elizabella… I'm going to make all your dreams come true."

"Really? And how will you go about doing that when you've no idea what they are!" Elizabella retorted, looking out the carriage window angrily. The carriage ride ended moments later and soon Elizabella was back home… only this time with a ring tightly gripping her fingers like shackles on a prison inmate.

"How was tonight!" Isabella piped, coming from the back of the house and rushing toward her little sister.

"What happened?" Her grandmother echoed, standing from her reading chair in the foyer.

"Oh, don't play dumb with me! You filthy hags got what you wanted. I'm marrying him, alright? Glad I can be pawned off so easily. At least it will make you miserable wretches happy!" Elizabella said with an angry tear rolling down her pale cheek. She rushed into her room and lay on her bed, hoping to fall asleep soon and leave the nightmare she'd began to call a life behind.

After what seemed like only minutes, Elizabella woke up to the sound of busy feet and shouting women in her house. She stood and got dressed in the same manner as the day before. She went out with Beckett once again only this time, engaging in a bit more conversation seeing as how he was going to show her around a few of the military bases and introduce her to his job. Even though she was with Beckett, Elizabella found herself growing excited as their carriage rolled up to the ports. She stepped out of the carriage and meandered around, looking in awe at her surroundings. "A cannon!" She heard herself exclaim upon seeing a large barreled cannon being rolled across the docks and onto one of the ships. She heard Beckett chuckle from behind her.

"Yes dear, a cannon indeed."

"I've never seen one before… are they loud?"

"Well of course they can be heard acro-"

"Across oceans," a rough voice interrupted. She turned to see a man with dark, tied back hair eyeing her from a few feet away.

Beckett seemed to tense up upon seeing him and said, in a rather harsh tone, "Sparrow… get to your ship."

"Ah, but Beckett… you've not introduced me to your lovely…" He took Elizabella's hand and brought it to his lips, pecking it gently and looking in her eyes for a moment, searching for an answer as to how she and Beckett were related.

"Fiancée'" Beckett snorted, pulling her close. Elizabella didn't object… she was too busy staring into the black eyes of the stranger.

"Damn," The man said, dropping Elizabella's hand, still staring at her. "Mind if I show her something?"

"What on earth could YOU have to show her?"

"I'd like to take her upon the _Wicked Wench_ if you don't mind, sir… I can tell the little lady's never been on a real ship before."

"I don't thin-"

"I'd like that very much, Mr. Sparrow."

"It's Captain, dear… come with me." He held out his hand and Beckett reluctantly let go of Elizabella so that she may take it and walk aboard his ship with him. He started to show her around immediately.

"What's this room here?"

"That, my dear, is my cabin…Would you like to come inside?"

"I'm not sure my fia-"

"Ah, Beckett won't mind a bit," Jack muttered, pulling a key from his coat pocket and thrusting it into the brass knob. He opened the door and led her inside.

"It's awfully damp in here," Elizabella muttered looking at the Captain.

"Aye," Jack replied, looking around himself with his hands on his waist. "Dreadful place to sleep alone…" He mumbled, not really paying attention to Elizabella who was looking at a map on his desk.

"Why is your ship named the wicked wench?" She asked, standing up from her hunched over position.

"Company name," Jack said plainly, "If I'd had my way she'd be sailing under something a bit more… mysterious."

"I see… Li-"

"Elizabella!" Beckett shouted. His heavy footsteps could be heard approaching the cabin.

"Oh dear… he's come to take me back with him," She sighed, rolling her eyes a bit. "It was nice to meet you Miste-… I mean… Captain Sparrow."

She started to float to the door when Jack said to her quietly, "Come back tonight, and we'll talk again, eh?... You're very… interesting." Elizabella looked back at him and smiled. After nodding in agreement, she walked out of the cabin. As she left his ship, Jack could hear Beckett scolding her for being aboard the ship for too long although he didn't hear exactly what he said. He smiled to himself, knowing he'd see Elizabella later that night to ask her.


	2. Light in Darkness

After falling with a thud in the dirt below her second story room, Elizabella stood and looked up at the open window and the trellis she had ventured down, making sure her sister or grandmother hadn't heard her. Inside the house, no one moved. After being sure it was absolutely safe, she ran down the road that lead toward the docks, her shoes leaving quiet taps to echo through the night air.

To join the echoes once she was far enough away from home she sang softly,

_'Cause her hair was green as seaweed__  
__Her skin was blue and pale__  
__I loved that girl with all my heart__  
__I only liked the upper part__  
__I did not like the tail._

It was a song about a mermaid her father had sang to her when she couldn't sleep in the stiffening darkness of their home… that was before he left on a merchant ship and her mother died. Back when things were at least somewhat happy.

She reached the docks to find a militia of military men lined up to guard the gates. _How on earth am I to get in there?_ She wondered, gazing at them nervously from behind a concrete column. She thought for a long while then decided that if Captain Sparrow really wanted to see her then he'd come to her when he heard her voice. After all, he was military as well. She ventured straight into the soldiers' line of vision unafraid but acting nervous. "Bear! Bear! Where could that mangy cur have gone!" She called out, frustrated.

"Ma'am… you're not supposed to be-"

"I'm terribly sorry sir, but my puppy has wondered off somewhere and if I don't find him soon I'll just…" She started to cry a bit and the man consoled her awkwardly.

"I'm sorry, ma'am but I don't know where your dear pet could have gone… I didn't see him pass by here."

"I know where he is!" A man piped, walking away from the Wicked Wench and up to Elizabella. "I seen him trot by not too long ago… I'll take you to him." It was Captain Sparrow. They ventured away from the docks and Sparrow grinned widely. "You're clever."

"You're a fool!" Elizabella said, turning her nose up at him.

"Why do you say that?"

"'Come back tonight.'" She mocked, "What a brilliant plan! I mean, aside from the military and the guns and risk of death hanging over my shoulders, tonight has been great!"

"Ah, but, dear, would it have been half as fun meeting me here if there wasn't a risk?" He said, crossing his hands behind his back and tauntingly walking in front of her.

"I suppose… you have a point," Lizzie said, catching up with him. "Captain Sparrow-"

"Jack…"

"Beg pardon?"

"It's Jack, love…"

"Ah… well… Jack, what would you call your ship if it weren't the 'Wicked Wench'?"

"I'm not sure," He replied, walking to the shore and sitting in the sand. Elizabella sat beside him and continued listening to him speak. "It would be something mysterious… something… oxymoronic."

"Oh…" was the only response Lizzie could mumble. She didn't know what he meant… and she certainly didn't know what 'oxymoronic' meant.

There was a small moment of awkward silence that passed after Jack laid on the cool sand and looked up at the stars, muttering, "Tell me, deary, what did that prick Becket have to say to you as you left?"

Elizabella rolled her eyes at once and quietly mocked her fiancée, "Now, Lizzie, do remember your current place… and that would be as my fiancée… not some ignorant sailor's concubine." Jack's mouth slowly turned up word into the handsomely sly grin he wore so well. "The nerve of that man! To think that one: I would be so promiscuous that I would lose my morals and sleep with some 'ignorant sailor'" Lizzie quoted angrily, "and two: that I am so ridiculously stupid that I would forget that I was his 'fiancée' and run off with another man." She looked up at the stars almost forgetting Jack was accompanying her and muttered, "Not that I enjoy being due to betroth that man… I despise the very idea of it."

"Then why do it?" Jack interrupted, switching his position so that he may lay on his side to face her, his head propped on his bent arm.

"It's not like I have much of a choice," Lizzie said, suddenly remembering that Jack was beside her and looking down at him.

"It's your life, is it not? You're a woman… free to choose whatever fate you like for yourself."

"Not entirely free, I'm afraid," She replied. She pulled her shawl over her shoulders and looked at the sand below her. "I've got to think of my family. My sister, Lord bless her, was in an awful accident a few years ago… she burnt her leg so badly that no man ever looks twice at her. My grandmother's husband left this world long ago… my brother has a family of his own to support… don't see how though. He'll viciously beat anyone in his way when he's angry. My father left some time ago… wanted to be free to sail the seas. Never came back…" Her voice faded as the picture of her not so perfect family flashed through her mind.

"And what of your mother?" Jack asked, fearing he already knew the answer.

A tear came to Elizabella's eye as she spoke. "My mother…" The faded image of a small, dainty woman passed through her imagination as she mumbled, "My mother died when I was still a little girl…" All was quiet for a moment and even the chorus of crickets and frogs that were heard in the distance seemed to silence their song in remembrance.

Jack rose and placed an arm awkwardly around Lizzie's shoulder, unused to bringing comfort to anyone. Still, set on getting Elizabella's mind off of the subject, he said solemnly, "You still are a little girl, Lizzie." She smiled a bit as the leftover tears spewed from her eyes and onto her pale cheeks.

"Not according to Beckett," she mumbled, laughing a bit and wiping her cheeks.

"He's sick… desperate, I'm sure," Jack muttered, removing his arm from her shoulder and started looking out to the sea. "Tell me, Lizzie… if not Beckett… what kind of man _would _you marry?"

"Well… perhaps a sailor. I was always told that women always grow up and marry their fathers… not literally of course, but yes… yes I should like to marry a sailor of sorts."

Jack was silent for a moment. Then, after a devilishly handsome grin spread across his face, he said, rather solemnly, "Perhaps you should get home."

"Why? The sun doesn't come up for another few hours!" Elizabella protested.

"You look like you need some rest, dear… and aside from that, Beckett's sending me off on some ridiculous task in the morning and I need to get my bearings… It was very nice talking to you, Lizzie." He stood, held his hand out and pulled her to her feet then turned, his black hair, straight and tame, slicking from over his shoulders to the original position on his back, protecting most of his neck from the chilling night air.

"Jack… will I ever see you again?"

"Perhaps. Although, with Beckett being your fiancée I've a feeling he'll put a stop to our meetings when he finds out."

"How will he know?"

"The docksmen may not be the brightest, but they'll catch on… Lizzie, I'm not so sure you and I will be seeing each other outside of Beckett's company."

"Why've you changed your mind so suddenly? Just moments ago you were alright with you and I meeting in secret… and I quite like the spontaneity and excitement of it all… Jack, you're one of the only friends I've ever had… without you I… I don't know what I'll do."

"Friends?"

"That's what I'd like to think you are," Elizabella mumbled, smiling and lowering her head to hide her reddened face.

"A friend wouldn't put their companion in harm's way, love"

Elizabella thought for a moment and suddenly decided he was right… He didn't want her to get into any trouble… and she didn't want him to encounter any either. He smile faded and she nodded silently, and then started to walk away from him, almost in tears. She turned back to him as he watched her leave and mumbled, "Would a friend walk their companion home?"

Young Jack silently smiled, and walked over to Elizabella, linking his arm with hers. He started walking her in the direction of her home and as the night air slowly engulfed them in the sorrowful knowledge of them knowing it was the first and last time they'd share any sort of moment like this, they cherished the connection between them.


End file.
